BluegillsTightlines

Took it for a spin on the water this morning, it casts pretty smoothly, but the reeling felt like it could have been better. I don't think it's a horrid reel but I went back to my old Shimano Bantam Coriolis and caught a solid bass on that this morning and it performed very well with a fresh tune up and new line.

What do yall think of this reel? I decided to pick it up after my Daiwa seemingly has kicked the bucket after the last outing, though I still gotta get under the hood and see exactly what's wrong. So I got this, I figured it was time for a more modern one anyway with a faster gear ratio. The daiwa I was using was 5.4:1 and felt just a little bit underpowered when fighting sizeable fish and I had to reel fast to keep a top water going like it's supposed to. I've got this one tuned into where it won't backlash with the current lure on it, which is a buzzbait. Took some practice throws in the back yard and casted to a bucket, got in and near it for the most part after I got the brake settings optimized. Feels solid and comfortable in hand as well. Has anyone else used it? I didn't wanna spend $200 for a reel with a computer chip in it, so I got this one for $68.

2 nice bass caught between 8:45 and 10:10 this morning. 20.5 inches and 21 inches. Fought like the absolute dickens. Weren't getting away though cuz both were hooked solid right through the tough grizzly part of the corner of their mouths.

GREAT morning today. A 16", 20.5" and 21 inch bass on a Mike iaconelli Gilly swimbait. analog scale for some reason said every one of them were 1 lb

Same here, doesn't even have to be a big one if it's got some cool colors going. I LOVE spawning male black crappie when they get that black and gold going like this one.

He kept his reel. I couldn't tell for sure but the reel appeared to be something like An Abu Garcia Ambassadeur or some other round baitcast reel. The rod I'm not so sure about but it seemed to break pretty easy.

About 3 weeks ago I was heading home around mid day after a 4 hour trip resulted in 2 decent bass and a handful of nice bluegill. As I'm approaching the front entrance, there was this guy fishing about 30 feet to the right of the boat ramp. Now I dunno if he had a big fish slip the hook or if it broke the line, but he had something that looked pretty good on the way it was bending the rod. And then all of a sudden everything goes slack, rod straightens back and it was clear he lost whatever it was. I felt bad for him. But then right after that he had a Yosemite Sam type rage/breakdown hopping up and down, gnashing his jaw, thought I heard a couple expletives or two, and maybe an "ohhhhhhhhhhhhh" and then he goes and does something ridiculous-- he bends the rod over his knee and breaks it in 3 pieces. Throwing the handle with the reel still seated to the ground and stood there with his hands on his hips for the longest.

I have strictly largies in my local lake so I've yet to run into spots or smallies. Caught my fair share of lmb. Dinks, medium, large, no huge ones yet. But I see some with Dark greens, and others that look almost completely white. Is depth of water and vegetation a factor? For example, here are a pic of each:

I tend to look at and measure and photo every bass that I think is 1.25 lbs or bigger. They put up a good fight so I figure it's worth having a permanent record of them. I didn't get to go one single time last year due to health issues, so I like to photo every decent(definition varies angler to angler). Plus when I take a photo ,it contains useful information in the future when I go into photo details by looking at the date and time when it was caught, and the image itself contains useful information outside the obvious such as whether it was sunny, in the shade, open water, cloudy, or rainy. Also it helps me to note the surroundings for future reference.

May be a couple weeks before I can get back out again due to the heat and humidity returning after a very nice and unusual 3 week reprieve from normal Alabama July. So if I indeed have to keep the lines dry for a bit, I am quite satisfied I managed to get a 5lber Monday morning. Supposed to have 110 degree heat indices for a week straight and I tend to get sick very easily if it's over 90 and can't find shade or AC.

That smallie is gorgeous!!! Long been home and cleaned up. But any time you see this after a day on the water, that is generally a good sign.

Not only is that a nice big bass, but gorgeous too. Love that dark green she's got.

I lost two this morning in the 2 to 2.5 range, bummed me out. I considered giving it up but I decided to stick with it and 30 minutes later this big mamma struck and gave me an amazing airshow. She splashes me good upon release and gave my thumb a good munching. Did not have a scale with me, but got a girth and length. Length was 20.5 inches and girth was 13 inches. Using the estimator on this site with those data points, it estimated it at 5.35 lbs. I was stoked. That's my biggest one of the year and pushed my PB. Held her up like a WWE title belt at one point 😂 I lost two this morning in the 2 to 2.5 range, bummed me out. I considered giving it up but I decided to stick with it and 30 minutes later this big mamma struck and gave me an amazing airshow. She splashes me good upon release and gave my thumb a good munching. Did not have a scale with me, but got a girth and length. Length was 20.5 inches and girth was 13 inches. Using the estimator on this site with those data points, it estimated it at 5.35 lbs. I was stoked. That's my biggest one of the year and pushed my PB. Held her up like a WWE title belt at one point 😂 I lost two this morning in the 2 to 2.5 range, bummed me out. I considered giving it up but I decided to stick with it and 30 minutes later this big mamma struck and gave me an amazing airshow. She splashes me good upon release and gave my thumb a good munching. Did not have a scale with me, but got a girth and length. Length was 20.5 inches and girth was 13 inches. Using the estimator on this site with those data points, it estimated it at 5.35 lbs. I was stoked. That's my biggest one of the year and pushed my PB. Held her up like a WWE title belt at one point 😂 I lost two this morning in the 2 to 2.5 range, bummed me out. I considered giving it up but I decided to stick with it and 30 minutes later this big mamma struck and gave me an amazing airshow. She splashes me good upon release and gave my thumb a good munching. Did not have a scale with me, but got a girth and length. Length was 20.5 inches and girth was 13 inches. Using the estimator on this site with those data points, it estimated it at 5.35 lbs. I was stoked. That's my biggest one of the year and pushed my PB. Held her up like a WWE title belt at one point 😂

Would it be in the corner or right through the top lip and schnoz? Way I do it particularly if I'm using bream for bait is to set my hook with about an 11 O'clock orientation if the fish is swimming to my right, and at a 2 O'clock orientation if it is swimming to my left. If it appears or feels to be swimming towards me, I'll give it a straight up tug to 12 O'clock. When I do 12 O clock it hooks them in the top center of the loop and schnoz, if I use the 11 O'clock or 2 O'clock hookset it hooks them more in the corners of the mouth, sometimes into the grizzly part or even into the gill plate. This really applies only for single hook sets, as treble hooks often get multiple hook points and sometimes both sides at the same time or the top of the mouth and a side. Just wonder which way is less likely for a fish to spot the hook?

Thank you, I love the color variations they have. I've caught some super dark green, and others more dollar bill looking like that one, and others that were almost colorless, but had a very prominent line running along the arch of their back just a bit under the dorsal fin. And that lake really is a gorgeous place. There is an islet/jetty there that allows for some absolutely stunning sunset views. And it's only 3 miles from home too. So I can literally hop up on a whim and go, don't have to pre plan or schedule. Bass population is VERY healthy there thanks to the way they've managed it after closing it down for renovations a few summers ago. It stayed closed for a year , but it paid off. That lake holds a lot of quality fish. There have been quite a good many double digit bass by other anglers since the renovation. It's also a great place to catch some nice catfish, bluegill, and shellcracker. I caught a handful of shellcracker there this year that were definitely over a lb and several, several bluegill up in the 10 inch range. Crappie were finicky this year though for some reason.

Got out to the lake this morning, didn't get much of anything for an hour, and then it came an absolute flood. Waited it out in my car and moved down the lake and spotted a bass chasing some small bream in the grass bed. Problem was I would have to cast over a very thick pile to get to it and there would be no way to lip or net it there. So I decided if I hooked it, I would work it down the bank and into an opening in the grass that led to some rocks to step on so I did that and kept my rod up while fighting it to keep enough tension on it. Paid off. 7'0 Lew's Speed Stick handled it beautifully. I missed a good one the other day so it was nice to get this one in.

Whew man, 3 fish on 3 rods is quite a conundrum, but that would be an awesome conundrum Yup. My current where is bass in the shallows chasing bait fish in the grass. When has typically been all the way from oost spawn until the grass starts dying and the bass move out and then I adjust and go artificial. And my why is right now it's working, and working extremely well, and sometimes if the water is clear enough, I actually get a visual as the bass wharfs the bream and it's so fun to watch em do that, or watch em absolutely torpedo it if they see it from their ambush point in the grass and feeling that hard knock. Ranks right up there with top water blowups to me. I kinda feel bad for the bream though lol.

I usually just catch em one at a time so that way I don't have to worry about them dying. Where I fish at and where my current honey hole is, there is a tree overhanging the water next to a rock and I can pitch a red wiggler in there and those bream go nuts over it. Catch one , walk about 40 feet to the weed bed where the bass have been hanging out and thread a bream on my baitcaster-- hooking it just below the back of the dorsal fin has been my go to. And then I'll either pitch it along the edge of the weeds, or into a pocket if the surrounding grass isn't just absurdly dense, and I also like to target breaks in the weed beds as well. I also listen and watch for splashes and ambushes. The second bass I caught Sunday was giving some small bluegill some absolute heck, could hear it splashing and popping the top of the water, saw the wake, went over there and pitched a fresh caught bluegill and it hit it pretty much immediately. I also like to look if possible to see if the bass has got it sufficiently in its mouth before setting the hook. If I can't see it, I'll give it some slack to run and when I see that line to, I'll set the hook then too. What got me into using live bream was just a few years ago I was fishing nightcrawler for eating size bluegill, and I caught a medium size 6 incher reeled it in and about 2 feet before I got it to the dock, a bass came out of Hades and absolutely annhilated it and stole it from my hook. At that point I had never had such a thing happen. And after reading the state rules and regulations and confirming live bream is legal to use for bait, I started bringing a bluegill set up with me in case I couldn't get anything to offer at an artificial. Caught bluegill, put it on my baitcaster, and that's really when I seen my bass catches go up by A LOT. I haven't updated it yet, but my PB is a 7lber off of a live bluegill. Definitely agree there. If ya can't find the fish, or know where to look, it doesn't matter what ya use if you ain't where the bass are. Less skill cuz the bream is doing the movement. But knowing the size and where to hook it is important. Gotta know the best place to allow it the kind of motion to attract bass. Which for me has been just under the the back of the dorsal fin. And if I see a bass that is looking interested but undecided, I'll downsize and catch a smaller bream, and that will often result in a committed strike instead of a uncertain follow because the bass isn't sure if it can swallow the bait or not.

Sounds very similar to large crappie bites on jigs. I've slow rolled little bass assassin minnows on 1/32 oz jigheads and the ONLY indication id have of a bit was a VERY subtle and easy to miss quick twitch of the line, most of those times wouldn't even feel it.

I catch 90% of my bass on live bluegill about 4 inches or so long. I've had some people tell me that since the fish is doing all the movement, that's not much skill to it. But at the same time I have seen people use livebream but not catch anything because they didn't know where to look. I pitch live bream in open pockets between weed beds and that's been highly effective for me this year. Someone said I need to change to artificial lures to be a true bass fisherman. But why should I abandon something I know they are biting, especially when I know precisely where to pitch em in at? I mean probably when the pattern changes and the fish become a little more finicky and less aggressive, I'll switch to artificial, but since live bream is bringing great results right now, I feel like it would be foolish to abandon something that's been basically a slam dunk in my lake just to satiate the opinion of someone else.

Thats a really interesting color pattern on that smallie

Got a couple nice bass today before some buffoons in a couple trailers started making ob oxious racket driving around the road behind the lake and back. It was a great day and both these fish slammed love bluegill and danced on the surface of the water like skipjack. Lots of fun. And got to do it in the company of s really good friend who just got his DD 214 from the Navy and transferring back to civilian life.

A combination of old and new. Old: Daiwa Triforce-153iV reel dad bought me 25 years ago for good grades. New: 7'0 Lew's Xfinity speed stick I LOVE this set up for the kind of bass fishing I do most days(catch bait fish such as bream, use them for love bait) the reel has good pulling power and a good retrieve speed, and the rod at 7'0 allows me to cover a good amount of water, and it using upwards of 20 lbs line allows me to live bait fish this kind of medium thickness cover I like to target. The hook sets with this combo have been very solid. And I like the brighter color on the rod so it's easy to find if I were to lay it down for whatever reason(rarely, but have done it before)

Caught these two bass this morning to lift my spirits. Last two times I fished two weeks ago, I lost SIX in a row due to a combination of poor hook ties, getting caught in weeds, and me not checking my equipment for proper functioning-- my Shimano Coriolis quit reeling and wouldn't do anything, ended up losing a couple fish due to that. I believe it has a bad gear, gotta open the chassis and check it out. But swapped my daiwa over to my new lews speed stick 7'0 and got these two out of thick grass. Tied a Palomar knot to the hook this time and there was no slipping. It felt good to get back on the board and get some confidence back. Also felt good that recognizing where I messed up and correcting it paid off immediately. Not giants , but they were both great fighters. I LOVE that speed stick rod. Gives me some extra leverage to fish weeds.

It is great to be back!!! And that first bass I posted the other day seemed to serve as sort of a test to see if I still remembered how to handle a bass. Caught it on 4 lb line while fishing on bottom for bluegill. It was a 19 incher and that was super fun listening to that drag screech after missing all of last year.